Oh Hell... I'll DU It... Please... Welcome A New Contributing Member To DU... cer7711 !!! [View all]

[WillyT]

That was more heat than light, yes? Insulting your fellow progressives with such venom and vitriol convinces no one of anything save that you are in a near-incoherent rage over lefties-more-left-than-you-are putting pressure on the administration to defend certain much-attacked social programs.

Let me try enumerating ten points, as civilly and courteously and cogently as I can:

1.) This president—whom I very much like and admire, by the way—has a history of uttering soaring populist/progressive rhetoric during campaigns and then governing from a center-right political perspective/stance.

2.) President Obama has proposed that a so-called “Grand Bargain” include $4 trillion in savings. That’s a ratio of $3 in spending cuts to $1 in tax increases
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3.) If you let the Bush tax cuts expire for people making over $250,000, you already have $1 trillion in tax increases right there.

4.) President Obama has promised Corporate America a tax cut from 35% down to 28%, at the very time his administration is sounding the same-old, tired and discredited “Shock Doctrine” austerity rhetoric: “shared sacrifice” (when the past 30 years of wealth transfer to the richest 1% has been anything but); “reasonable compromise”; “bi-partisanship”; etc.

5.) You’ll notice that I keep citing “President Obama” directly. Not “vomit on the floor” or “some editorialist for CNBC” or ungrounded speculation and rumor-mongering but . . . “President Obama”. Because that’s who I’m citing as a primary source. President Obama.

6.) There is a definite mood and building consensus in Washington—both pre-election and post-election—that the “responsible and reasonable” thing to do will be to “tighten our belts” and pursue “fiscally responsible, deficit-reduction policies” that could result in actions such as the raising of the eligibility age for Medicare, Social Security, etc. True, nothing has been done yet—but reporter after politician after blogger after inside-the-Beltway witness has been talking about this grim, “belt-tightening” mood of consensus in Washington and communicating the fact of its existence to their various constituencies.

7.) Paul Krugman—though proven right time and time again on the economy and the various actions taken by this administration—still seems to get short-shrift from people who should know better. As he remarked to an interviewer recently: “I’m tried of being Cassandra; of being proved right after the fact. For once I’d like to be listened to before economic disaster strikes.” Paul Krugman regards with fear and alarm the very same outcomes you are ridiculing as preposterous and unthinkable. I hope, in this instance, that Krugman’s unease is proven unfounded and the “Wisdom and Insight of the Scootaloo” is proven right. Time will tell . . .

8.) It is fundamentally dishonest, unfair and hurtful to signal in advance of tough negotiations that reductions in spending might be made at the expense of the working poor and much-stressed middle class. Question: Why doesn’t President Obama make a clear and ringing statement to the effect that: “Since SS adds not one single dollar to our deficit, any talk of ‘SS reform’ is a non-starter.” Why not take it off the table before negotiations even begin? I’ll tell you why—I think you already know—because SS “reform” is very much on the table. This Democratic president may very well succeed to doing what no Republican has ever been able to accomplish: start to erode the cornerstone social policy achievement of FDR’s administration. It is this possible outcome—among others—that have caused social leftists like myself to raise the alarm.

9.) Like it or not, this president does have a four-year track record. His accomplishments are legion (too many to enumerate again here) but he ALSO has a record of center-right negotiating and expressed contempt and/or irritation and/or disengagement from his progressive/liberal base. (The examples I could cite in support of this stance are—like his accomplishments—too many to again enumerate here. If you’re as smart and informed as I think you are—and as fair-minded—you know very well what I mean.)

10.) So given all of this: the stakes at risk, President Obama’s past record of negotiating (I don’t think he’s a poor negotiator; I think he gets exactly what he wants: a center-right outcome); the necessity and urgency for liberals to remain engaged and put leftward-leaning pressure on this administration—why WOULDN’T progressives be up in arms over any hint of a sell-out or capitulation in advance of “Fiscal Cliff” talks?

I hope this missive—the first I’ve ever posted to Democratic Underground—causes you to rethink and re-examine some of the contempt and vitriol you dumped on the heads of hard-fighting progressives who hold a different opinion than you do.

PS. And no, I am not a “troll” or a “false concern care-bear” or a “lurker” or any of the other group-think, self-congratulatory/semi-paranoid in-group/out-group monikers some members here enjoy hurling at people who disagree with their stated opinions. I’m a working-class, 49-year-old, book-loving Chicago Democrat and political junkie who was so offended by your post that I was moved to write. For that, I thank you for getting me more directly involved in the discussion.

Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1814069

Responding to THIS: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021813696

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